Mihailo Obrenovic III, Prince of Serbia
Encyclopedia
Mihailo Obrenović was Prince of Serbia from 1839–1842 and again from 1860–1868. His first reign ended when he was deposed in 1842 and his second when he was assassinated in 1868.

Early life and first reign

Mihailo was the son of Prince Miloš Obrenović (1780–1860) and his wife Ljubica Vukomanović
Ljubica Vukomanović
Ljubica Vukomanović was Princess consort of the Principality of Serbia as the wife of Miloš Obrenović I, Prince of Serbia, and the founder of the Obrenović dynasty, which ruled Serbia in an almost unbroken line from the time of his election as Prince to the May Overthrow in 1903...

 (1788–1843, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

). He was born in Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...

, the second surviving son of the couple. His elder brother Milan was born in 1819 but was frequently in poor health. He is stated as being the most enlightened ruler of modern Serbia . He advocated the idea of a Balkan federation
Balkan Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...

 against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

.

Initially, Prince Miloš, abdicated in favour of his first born Milan II, who was by then terminally ill. But it was Mihailo who came to the throne as a minor, having been born in 1823, and acclaimed prince on June 25, 1839, upon the abdication of his father. He was declared of full age the following year. Few thrones appeared more secure, and his rule might have endured throughout his life but for his want of energy and inattention to the signs of the times.

In 1842 his reign came to a halt when he was overthrown by a rebellion led by Toma Vučić-Perišić, which enabled the Karađorđević dynasty to accede to the Serbian throne. Eleven years later, Mihailo married Countess Julia Hunyady de Kéthely
Julia Hunyady de Kéthely
Countess Júlia Hunyady de Kéthely , was a Hungarian noblewoman and the Princess consort of Serbia as the wife of Mihailo Obrenović III. She remained a widow for seven and a half years after his assassination in 1868, until January 1876 she married her lover, Duke Karl von Arenberg, Prince von...

 (26 August 1831– 19 February 1919), the daughter of Count Ferenc Hunyady de Kéthely and Countess Julia Zichy de Zich and Vasonkeo. The marriage was childless; although he did have at least one illegitimate child by a mistress whose identity has not been ascertained.

Second reign and Assassination

Finally, Mihailo was accepted back as prince of Serbia in September 1860 after the death of his father who had regained the throne in 1858. For the next eight years he ruled as an enlightened absolutist monarch.

He had wished to divorce his wife, Julia in order to marry his young mistress, Katarina Konstantinovic
Katarina Konstantinović
Katarina Konstantinović was a Serbian noblewoman and a descendant of the Obrenović dynasty as the daughter of Princess Anka Obrenović. She was also the first cousin of King Milan I to whom she acted as his de facto first lady of the royal court after the Queen, Natalie Keshko, separated from...

, who was the daughter of his first cousin, Princess Anka Obrenovic
Princess Anka Obrenović
Princess Anka Obrenović was a member of the Serbian royal Obrenović dynasty as the niece of the dynasty's founder Miloš Obrenović I, Prince of Serbia. She was also a society leader and writer whose translations in 1836 were the first literary works compiled by a woman to be published in Serbia...

. Both resided at the royal court at his invitation. His plans for a divorce and subsequent remarriage to Katarina had met with much protest from politicians, the clergy, as well as the general public. His astute and gifted Prime Minister Ilija Garasanin
Ilija Garašanin
Ilija Garašanin was a Serbian politician and statesman, serving as Interior Minister and Prime Minister ....

 was dismissed from his post in 1867 for daring to voice his opposition to the divorce. Due to an unforeseen event, however, his divorce from Julia never took place.

On 10 June 1868, Mihailo was walking through the park of Košutnjak
Košutnjak
Košutnjak is a park-forest and urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is divided between in the municipalities of Čukarica and Rakovica .-Location:...

, near his country residence on the outskirts of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, with Katarina and her mother, Princess Anka, when they were shot by assassins. Mihailo and Anka were both killed, and Katarina was wounded in the assassination which was the result of a plot that has never been sufficiently clarified. The Karađorđevićs were suspected of being behind the crime but there is not much proof to corroborate this.

Anka's granddaughter Natalija Konstantinović
Natalija Konstantinović
Natalija Konstantinović was a Princess of Montenegro as the wife of Prince Mirko Petrović-Njegoš. The couple had five sons; however, two died in early childhood. They divorced in 1917, a year after the royal family was forced to flee the kingdom...

 was married in 1902 to the Montenegrin Prince Mirko Petrović-Njegoš
Prince Mirko of Montenegro
Prince Mirko Dimitri Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro, Grand Voivode of Grahovo and Zetà was born at Cetinje, the second son of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and Milena Vukotic...

 (1879–1918) whose sister Zorka
Zorka of Montenegro
Princess Ljubica Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro , and later became Princess Zorka Karađorđević in Serbia. She was better known as Princess Zorka....

 had married King Petar Karađorđević I in 1883.

External links

  • http://genealogy.euweb.cz/balkan/obren.html
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